Busch Gardens Tampa
vs
Knotts Berry Farm

On a typical day Busch Gardens Tampa queues less: about 22 minutes a ride against 24 at Knotts Berry Farm, a difference of roughly 2 minutes on every queue you join.

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01 · On a typical day

What you would normally queue.

Averages across recent weeks, so one broken ride or one wet Tuesday cannot decide it. This is the comparison to plan a trip on; the live figures below are the one to act on today.

Busch Gardens Tampa and Knotts Berry Farm compared on their typical recorded queue times
Typically	Busch Gardens TampaUnited States	Knotts Berry FarmUnited States
Average wait per ride	22 min (best of the two)	24 min
Rides with recorded waits	10	16 (best of the two)
Longest typical queue	Cheetah Hunt46 min	GhostRider64 min
Shortest typical queue	Air Grover6 min	Los Voladores7 min
Average ride uptime Share of opening hours a ride is running	62%	90% (best of the two)

Averaged across every ride at each park with recorded waits. A ride that never opened is left out, so a park is not flattered by counting a shut ride as a queue of zero.

02 · Right now

Both parks, this minute.

Live queue times at both parks. These fill in as soon as the page loads, and keep updating while you are here.

Busch Gardens Tampa and Knotts Berry Farm compared on live queue times
Right now	Busch Gardens TampaUnited States	Knotts Berry FarmUnited States
Average wait right now	-	-
Rides open	-	-
Opening hours today	-	-
Longest queue	-	-
Shortest queue	-	-

These keep refreshing while this page is open. A closed park posts no waits, so its rows read as dashes rather than zeroes.

Verdict, on a typical day On a typical day Busch Gardens Tampa queues less: about 22 minutes a ride against 24 at Knotts Berry Farm, a difference of roughly 2 minutes on every queue you join.

03 · Choosing

Which one is your day out.

Every line here is earned by one of the figures above - nothing is a generic sentence with a park name dropped into it.

Pick Busch Gardens Tampa if…

You want shorter queues: Busch Gardens Tampa averages 22 minutes a ride against 24 at Knotts Berry Farm
Cheetah Hunt is on your list - it is Busch Gardens Tampa's longest typical queue at about 46 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Busch Gardens Tampa's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

Pick Knotts Berry Farm if…

You will accept a longer queue - 24 minutes a ride here against 22 at Busch Gardens Tampa - for what Knotts Berry Farm has that Busch Gardens Tampa does not
You want more to do: 16 rides here have recorded wait data against 10 at Busch Gardens Tampa
You would rather not find rides shut: Knotts Berry Farm's rides run 90% of opening hours against 62% at Busch Gardens Tampa
GhostRider is on your list - it is Knotts Berry Farm's longest typical queue at about 64 minutes, so it is the one to do first
You want Knotts Berry Farm's own character - the rides, theming and atmosphere described below

04 · The parks

What each one is.

Busch Gardens Tampa

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay combines a full theme park with a 300-acre zoo, making it one of the largest combined attractions in the US. The coaster line-up is exceptional: Iron Gwazi (one of the world's top-rated roller coasters), SheiKra (a 200-foot dive coaster), Kumba, Montu (an inverted coaster), Cobra's Curse spinning coaster, and the classic Python. African animal exhibits include rhinos, giraffes and tigers.

Florida summer heat drives queue times into early mornings, while Howl-O-Scream, Christmas Town and US school holidays are the busiest periods. Weekdays in September, October and January stay dramatically calmer. Check live wait times for Iron Gwazi and SheiKra the moment you arrive, and use our crowd calendar to pick a midweek date for marathon coaster days.

Busch Gardens Tampa live queue times

Knotts Berry Farm

Knott's Berry Farm sits in Buena Park, Orange County, California, with a long history dating back to Walter Knott's original berry farm and boysenberry jam stand from the 1920s. It's now a full theme park famous for its coaster line-up: HangTime, Silver Bullet, Xcelerator (a hydraulic launch coaster), GhostRider (a large wooden coaster), and the classic Timber Mountain Log Ride.

Southern California locals keep Knott's busy all year round, but peak crowds align with US school holidays, the extremely popular Scary Farm Halloween event, and Knott's Merry Farm at Christmas. Check live wait times for Xcelerator and HangTime on arrival, and use our crowd calendar to pick a weekday outside local school breaks for shorter queues.

Knotts Berry Farm live queue times

05 · Questions

Busch Gardens Tampa or Knotts Berry Farm?

Which is better, Busch Gardens Tampa or Knotts Berry Farm?

If you are judging on queues, Busch Gardens Tampa: it averages about 22 minutes a ride on a typical day against 24 at Knotts Berry Farm, roughly 2 minutes back on every queue you join. Busch Gardens Tampa has 10 rides with recorded waits against 16 at Knotts Berry Farm. Knotts Berry Farm also runs its rides more reliably - 90% of opening hours against 62%.

Which has shorter queues, Busch Gardens Tampa or Knotts Berry Farm?

Busch Gardens Tampa, by about 2 minutes a ride. On a typical day Busch Gardens Tampa averages 22 minutes against 24 at Knotts Berry Farm. Queues still move hour by hour, and a midweek day outside school holidays beats the gap at either park. See Busch Gardens Tampa best time to visit and Knotts Berry Farm best time to visit to pick a quiet day.

Can I visit Busch Gardens Tampa and Knotts Berry Farm in the same trip?

Yes - both parks are in United States, so a two-park trip is realistic over a long weekend. Split the days so you start at whichever opens earliest and drive to the other in the evening.

How many rides does each park have?

See the tables above for ride counts - or jump to Busch Gardens Tampa and Knotts Berry Farm for the full ride lists.

Is Busch Gardens Tampa bigger than Knotts Berry Farm?

By rides we track waits for, Knotts Berry Farm is the bigger day out: 16 rides against 10. Acreage matters less than how many you can actually get on, which comes down to queues and opening hours - and on those Busch Gardens Tampa is the quicker park.

Then pick
the quiet day.

Both parks have a crowd calendar with six weeks of forecast and the best day left to go.

Busch Gardens Tampa calendar Knotts Berry Farm calendar Compare other parks